History taught me
by MissyEvil
Summary: Emma Swan is in her senior year and her new history teacher turns out to be the good looking Miss Mills. However, Emma has always had some trouble with the subject and feels like the outsider. Regina tries to prove her she's not as dumb as she thinks. She might end up teaching her a little more than history. But can Emma teach Regina that a broken heart can be saved? No curse. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**hey guys, I'm gonna write a multi-chapter teacher/student fic because I love them so much myself and I feel like there aren't enough. Also, for those of you reading my other multi-chapter fics I will update them soon. I almost have my summer break so that's good! :) **

**Please let me know if I should continue or not!**

**Edit: Changed Regina's age because yes this is a high school and I think I forgot for a second because I was trying to involve both the Dutch system and the American one and shit got complicated. Regina is now 27, Emma is 19. **

* * *

Emma Swan rushed down the halls for the crowded school, occasionally bumping into people around her. Some she offered a quick apology, but mostly she just tried to get past them as fast as possible. Her phone chimed with a new message that she knew could only be from Ruby. "I'm coming, I'm coming", She said to no one in particular as she finally reached her classroom. As a senior she really should know better, however it seemed like the previous years had taught her nothing – including the location of this damn room – and she was still panting as she pushed open the door.

"Swan. How nice of you to join us." Her teacher said and Emma could barely contain an eye roll. She was never getting rid of this guy, was she? Mr. Gold had been teaching her financial management ever since she started at this school and she was still stuck with him. She cursed her school for having the course a standard for each student every year. She muttered a quick apology for being late as she found her place next to her best friend Ruby, who offered her a soft smile and a disapproving look. She was just teasing though, and they both knew it.

"Where were you?" The brunette asked her quietly but her eyes lingered on the teacher. They were sure to be send to the principal if he caught them talking. Too bad Belle wasn't here today; somehow he never punished them when she was there with them.

"I overslept."

Ruby cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Can you really blame me, after getting up at three everyday they expect me to sit here at fucking eight in the morning. I feel like a zombie."

"You look like one too."

Emma's mouth dropped open, and she faked being offended as she playfully smacked her friend's shoulder. "Thanks man."

Ruby just smiled and shrugged, and they focused their attention back on mister Gold who was explaining some balance sheet thing she knew she would never understand anyways. The next few hours were boring. After Gold's class there was Biology by mister Whale that lasted for what felt like ages. The blonde was glad that she was finally enjoying her well-deserved slice of pizza in the cafeteria with Ruby and Mary Margaret.

"So what do we have next? Because I feel like I'm ready to go home."

Mary Margaret laughed. "It's only one, Emma."

Emma shrugged as she took another bite. "It feels like it's five already."

Ruby and Mary Margaret both laughed at their friend before looking down at their schedules. "Seems like we all have history together from Miss… Mills."

The blonde frowned. "I've never heard of her before, is she new?"

Mary Margaret shook her head. "No, she isn't. David had her last year, apparently she can be real hard with the students."

Emma dropped her remaining piece of pizza back on her plate. "Great. Just what I needed, I already suck at history."

Before anyone could comfort the young woman the bell rang, and the three best friends rushed to the classroom.

* * *

Miss Mills wasn't there yet when Emma, Ruby and Mary Margaret arrived and so were many of the students so luckily they were still able to take the seats in the back row. Satisfied smiles were plastered onto their faces as they watched the other students come in and shoot them jealous faces for taking the best spots.

It took fifteen more minutes before their teacher finally arrived. Automatically Emma adjusted her glasses and let her gaze drop to the woman in front of the room who was apologizing for being late and talking about god knows what. Emma didn't hear a single word of it. All she saw was that gorgeous woman standing in front of the room wearing a red dress that was almost inappropriate for a school, and she felt like she simply couldn't breath anymore. How old was this woman anyway? She barely looked older than 27, which meant she would only be 8 years older than herself. How in the hell did she do that? Emma was staring and there was nothing that could stop her. Okay well except for that punch.

"Ouch! What was that for?" She asked the woman the punch had come from.

"You were totally lost in thought Ems. It was the only thing that worked." Ruby simply answered. Either she hadn't seen her staring or she had pretended not to.

"Sorry. What's up?"

"What do you think of her?" The brunette nodded towards the brunette who was arranging her things on her desk. Emma shrugged.

"I don't know. She hasn't even said anything yet."

Ruby smirked knowingly, and the blonde blushed, realizing that her staring had apparently been more obvious then she had thought. She shouldn't be staring.

"Good afternoon class." The teacher spoke up then and suddenly Emma's attention was snapped to the front of the room. "My name is Regina Mills but you may call me Miss Mills. I'm here to teach you history for the upcoming school year and I expect nothing but the best from all of you."

Normally she would have rolled her eyes, because this is about as standard as these speeches get, but there was something about.. Regina.. that made her want to listen to every word she had to say.

"Also, your previous teacher, Mr. Dwight for most of you, has provided me with your results from last year and based on that I've made a seating arrangement."

Loud sighs were heard from all across the classroom and Emma couldn't help but join them. She hated seating arrangements; somehow she always ended up sitting next to students she couldn't stand and as far away from her friends as possible.

"If I call out your name please come to the front and take your new seat."

It took ages before Emma was finally called out and there was no chance she was getting a place even close to her friends.

"Emma Swan."

Slowly the blonde walked over to stand in front of her teacher and tried not to eye her too much. The cold stare she received back made that somewhat easier though. Regina's finger pointed to the seat right in front of her desk. Emma felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment and anger. Anywhere but there. It wasn't unknown that Emma wasn't as smart as the others. She wasn't dumb, but she had had a rough youth and missed a lot of school as a kid.

She felt herself boiling with anger even though she knew Regina probably just wanted what was best for her education. Ruby was by her side then and squeezed her shoulder. Her friend seemed to always know what she needed. She smiled softly and even though she knew Ruby could look right through it, she retrieved her hand and both took their places on completely different sides of the classroom.

Emma could feel the brunette teacher's eyes on her and knew that Regina had been watching the interaction between the two friends. She whipped her head and sends her teacher a cold stare, a lot like she had received from her just moments earlier.

Where moments earlier she would have been happy with being so close to the other woman and getting to check her out from here she couldn't help but feel upset about it now. She felt like everyone was judging her and as the class continued it was only getting worse.

"Who knows the answer?" Regina called out looking at her students. Some of them put their hands up in the air but it seemed like she had something else in mind because suddenly she was calling out for Emma. "Miss Swan, perhaps you can share with class what you think."

She heard some people behind her snort, and she was sure she heard someone whisper, "as if that is ever going to happen". Instead of even trying she just shook her head. "I don't know."

Regina's eyes narrowed and looked down at Emma's notebook as if she knew that the blonde had just written it down. Which she had. Emma always wrote along, it made her remember things better and even though she sometime preferred not to speak up she could still test herself.

After a while the older woman nodded. "Very well. Anybody else?" Again Miss Blanchard's hand went up in the air and Regina almost rolled her eyes. "Anyone but miss Blanchard."

The rest of the class went by quietly. Emma kept quiet and only wrote things down occasionally. Even though she knew that her teacher was watching her, she still ignored her and just kept to her books.

Finally the bell rang and she was reaching for her backpack immediately. Next up was her last course and it was English, which meant that she didn't have to feel like an idiot for the next two hours. She was actually quite good at the course.

"Miss Swan, please wait." Regina said quietly, only for her to hear and she wondered if pretending to not have heard it and just escape for a better idea. However, she remembered Mary Margaret's words (that according to David she was strict) and she decided against it.

After everyone had left the room Regina closed the door and walked over to where the blonde was sitting. They were both silent for a while as the older woman sat down in her wheelchair and folded her hands on top her desk.

"I read your file."

"Figured you did."

The blonde knew she was testing her teacher, but it was part of her protecting herself and she couldn't stop it.

Instead of saying something about her behavior Regina coughed and ducked her head to try and make eye contact with Emma.

"I'm not here to judge you, Miss Swan. Not at all. I'm also not here to point out that you're the worst in the class."

Emma interrupted her. "But I am." Shit. She felt stinging behind her eyes and the last thing she wanted right now was to cry. It wasn't like she had never heard this before, her foster parents told her she was dumb often enough.

Regina shook her head, and for a second Emma saw one of her hands move like she wanted to reach out. She corrected herself and coughed. "That's where you're wrong. I saw you testing yourself, Miss Swan. You got all of them right."

The blonde girl shrugged. "So?"

"So why didn't you speak up?"

She was fidgeting awkwardly with her hands and shrugged. "I just didn't want to. Can I go now? I have a class and I'm going to be late."

For a second her teacher stayed silent, but then she nodded and unfolded her hands, which made Emma notice something she hadn't caught before, a wedding ring. She didn't even know why but she felt her heart clench a little. Before she had too much time to think about it though, Regina was holding the door open for her.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Miss Swan."

"Yeah. I guess so."

* * *

**Please review! xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**aaaah I'm soooo sorry! I was in America and personal shit happened (good shit) so I forgot and blabla more excuses. Even though I still don't have a lot of time to write I wanted to get this short chapter out for you guys just to show that I haven't forgotten about it and that I'm definitely still writing. **

**Also, thanks for all the follows and reviews! you're all awesome!**

**xxEsmee**

* * *

"Drink! Come on, Em!"

Emma Swan dropped her empty beer can on the ground and threw her hands up in the air. "I did it!" Her slurred voice spoke.

She felt a hand land hard on her back and stumbled for a second. She really should lay off the alcohol, but then again, these parties were always so amazing. Also, there was the thrill of drinking underage. She didn't have any parents that cared for what she did, at least not really.

"That was impressive!" A man's voice said and she didn't even have to look around her to see who it was.

"Neal." She said, turning around to face her stupid ex-boyfriend.

"Emma." He responded, with a flirtatious wink. She grimaced and turned to walk away from him (which didn't go very smooth), but before she could even take a step towards her friends, Neal grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Come on, why can't we at least still be friends?" His breath smelled like alcohol and the grip on her arm was painfully hard.

"Neal. Just let me go." She managed to say. Right now she hated herself for being drunk, she felt weak and overpowered.

Neal's grip only tightened and she knew that it would leave bruises for sure. Suddenly his lips were pressed against hers and his other arm was reaching for her shirt. She panicked. Luckily Killian stepped in at that point and even though Emma missed most of their conversation, she felt the grip around her wrist loosen and soon she was in Ruby's arms, who was dragging her home to their apartment.

* * *

Emma Swan woke the next morning at 8:04. Her head was pounding and her vision blur. She searched around for her glasses, which she found next to her pillow. Thank god she never lost them during the parties. The next thing she noticed was a blue and purple bruise on her wrist that looked pretty bad. What had happened last night?

"Hey! You're up!"

Emma reached for her head. "Don't yell please."

Ruby chuckled. "I'm sorry honey, I can't help that I just don't have hangovers."

"I know, I know."

The brunette noticed her friend holding her bruised wrist with her other hand. "So.. you found it?" She said, motioning towards Emma's hand.

"Yeah. Guess I did." The blonde spoke up "what happened?"

Ruby rolled her eyes before answering. "Neal happened. He tried to make a move on you and when you resisted he grabbed your wrist. Killian eventually got him to let you go."

"Wow shit."

Ruby just nodded before pushing a plate with pancakes in the blonde's direction. "Here, eat up or we're gonna be late for school."

Emma groaned as she let herself fall down in the kitchen chair. "Please remind me to never drink on a school night."

The brunette laughed. "You say that every week."

"I mean it this time!"

* * *

It was a surprise they even made it to school on time but they did and before they knew it they were in Archie's phycology class, which was as boring as always and Emma had struggles to keep awake.

"Yo Emma."

"Hey!"

The blonde turned around in her seat and saw Peter and his friend Felix staring at her. She groaned internally because she knew exactly where this was going.

"We were just thinking.. maybe you should pay attention instead of sleeping, since you know.. you're failing pretty much every class."

"Shut up." She said, a little too loud too because she felt everybody's eyes on her. What a great way to start the day.

"Miss Swan, I'd like to see you after class." Archie Hopper's voice spoke up and the blonde quickly turned back in her seat and decided to just sleep through most of this day and hope that it was over soon enough.

Emma waited patiently for class to be over. She didn't really dislike Archie, he was a nice teacher, he just always wanted to get so personal with her.

"So," he started with a deep sigh, "I'm not going to punish you. I saw the guys teasing you and I was just wondering if you were alright."

"I'm fine." She said, not even looking her teacher in the eye. She was going to be late for her second class, which was history from Miss Mills and something told her she wasn't going to be happy with that.

"Are you sure? Because if there is anything that I could do, I do not only teach phycology you know, I could also help you out and maybe talk with you on a weekly schedule?"

The blonde finally made eye contact and shook her head. "No thank you. I really am fine."

She wasn't, of course. She had a lot to worry about, but she had never been one of those girls who talk about their problems. She just kept them all inside and waited for them to be over.

She was indeed late for Miss Mills' class. She could feel the eyes of 30 students on her and one very hard stare that definitely came from Miss Mills herself.

"Sorry I'm late." She said. "I was still at Archie's class."

Regina slowly nodded. "That's fine. Just take your seat please. We were just discussing some of the main topics for next week's test."

Emma tried to pay attention, she really did. But every time she looked at her wrist, flashbacks came back that night. She remembered Neal's breath on her face and the way he had held her so tight. She remembered being really scared and helpless and most of all she remembered how little she had felt. Just four years ago she had promised herself that she would never make anyone feel her like that again.

"Miss Swan."

Her eyes snapped up towards the board where Miss Mills was standing with her arms crossed.

"I asked you if you've already started studying for the test?"

Emma smiled sweetly. "I was planning to start today actually."

Miss Mills returned her smile, even though the blonde (and probably everybody else) could see that it was fake. "Good. That's good."

She noticed how Regina's eyes fell to her wrist them, and she saw the fake smile fade from her teacher's lips. Shit… she thought. Miss Mills made eye contact with her for just a second and only then did Emma see how much her eyes had darkened, almost dangerously. It didn't scare her though; somehow it made her feel… safe. Emma quickly shook the feeling away and Miss Mills seemed to do the same as she turned back towards the class and gave them a new assignment to work on for the rest of the hour.

To the blonde's own surprise she understood the assignment and was able to finish it on time. She was about to hand it in when Regina spoke up again.

"Now class, I'd like you all to give me the assignment, one by one starting from all the way in the back. This way I can practice your names once more. Once you've handed it in you can go have lunch."

Emma dropped her head because she knew exactly where this was going.

Surely enough, she was right. "Thank you Miss Swan." Regina said with an eye on the door. Emma was quick to rush towards it, but unfortunately her teacher was faster and the door was closed behind the last student and right in front of her.

"I think we need to talk."

She sighed in frustration and awkwardly put her hands in her pockets. "About what?"

To both their surprise, Regina took her right arm and pulled the hand from her pocket. She carefully pulled the blonde's sweater up to reveal the now even more purple bruise. "About this."

Emma tried to pull her hand back, but Regina was stronger and it seemed like she wasn't done examining it yet. "Who did this to you?"

The blonde girl shrugged. "No one."

Miss Mills raised one eyebrow and Emma couldn't help but laugh at her teacher's face. It looked cute. Not that she should be thinking that. She really shouldn't. Emma: The dumbest kid in the school who is also an idiot, doesn't have a lot of friends, has a crappy ex-boyfriend, has no family and oh wow is also gay? Not another good thing to add to her list.

"Miss Swan you have to be honest with me here."

"Why?"

"Because it's my job to report it if someone get's beaten up at home."

She laughed dryly. "See, you don't have to worry about that. I don't have a family."

Regina frowned. "Don't you live with your foster parents anymore, Emma?"

She shook her head. "No, not for a while now. I live with Ruby, we have our own apartment."

The brunette seemed to think about this for a while as she walked back towards her desk. Emma didn't even know why she was following her; it was just something about that woman that made her forget about everything else for a little while.

"So then the question remains, who did this?"

She looked down at the bruise herself, causing another painful flashback.

"Is it really that important?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Miss Swan, someone hurt you, I can tell this wasn't some stupid accident because of the way you look at that bruise."

The blonde was quiet for a moment as she fidgeted with her fingers and tried not to make eye contact with her teacher. "What if I promise to tell you if it happens again?"

She knew Regina wanted to refuse, but then they looked at each other and something softened in the teacher's face. "Okay, but only if you agree for after school coaching twice a week."

Emma groaned. "Do I really have to?"

"Unless you're going to tell me who did that to you, but I'm guessing that you're not so yes. You really have to."

"Who will teach me?"

Regina smiled. "Mostly me, probably. Archie maybe."

Emma's eyes widened which caused her teacher to chuckle. "Please, not Archie. He'll just want to talk to me about the sense of life and my biggest dreams and ambitions and seriously I can't do that."

Regina laughed once more and Emma noticed how good it felt, to make someone laugh like this.

"Just step by my classroom once your classes are done and we'll come up with a schedule, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

**no, that wasn't a TFIOS reference... at least not intentionally?**

**please review! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took so long I'm so busy with my internship but I just wanted to post this short chapter to let you know I haven't forgotten about it. I'll try to find time to write as soon as possible (also for my other stories) but I can't promise anything.**

**anyways let me know what you thought of it :)**

* * *

The rest of Emma's day went by much like all of the others days. Nothing important happened, she had lunch with Ruby and Mary Margaret, got laughed at during math and eventually slept through politics.

Finally the last class was over and she rushed to pack her bags, wanting to get home as fast as possible.

"Hey there friend, calm down."

Emma sighed and momentarily stopped packing her stuff. "Ruby please. I just want to go home and take a bath okay."

The brunette frowned and poked her arm. "Honey, I thought you had an appointment with Miss Mills?"

Emma's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about it. "Shit. I forgot." This day was definitely giving her a headache and she wasn't even sure if it was because of the hangover anymore.

"You're not late, class just ended."

"I know, but I was just really looking forward to going home."

Ruby smiled sadly as she rubbed the blonde's upper arm. "I understand, but it probably won't be long. I'll start dinner so you can eat when you get home. How does that sound?"

Emma looked up at her friend and smiled sincerely. "Thank you. That sounds great."

"I am great."

The blonde laughed. "Don't push it Rubes."

* * *

Emma knocked on the door of her teacher's classroom even though it was open. She felt awkward just walking in, especially since Miss Mills seemed to be deep in thought.

She was proven correct when the teacher jumped in her place at the sudden sound.

"Emma. You scared me."

"Sorry."

Miss Mills send her a small smile. "It's fine, do come in please."

They both sat down, Miss Mills behind her desk and Emma in the chair that was now standing directly in front of it, clearly meant for her.

"So Miss Swan, have you changed your mind?"

The girl frowned. "Changed my mind about what?"

She could see that her teacher was suppressing an eye roll. "About telling me who hurt you."

Emma quickly shook her head. "That's not happening."

For a second she could see something that looked like concern in her teacher's eyes, but then it disappeared as she cleared her throat and picked up a piece of paper.

"I compared your schedule to mine, and it seems like Tuesday and Thursday afternoon would be best for the both of us. On Thursday you will have to wait 30 minutes till I am done, but you could use that time to start on some of your homework."

Emma groaned. "Do I really have to do this?"

Miss Mills dropped the paper and looked Emma directly in the eye, someone it caused shivers all over her body.

"Yes Miss Swan. You're not as dumb as you clearly think you are, but you have to put more effort into it."

The blonde girl knew her teacher was right, but she still didn't like the idea very much. Why couldn't everything just stay exactly as it was? She'd finish school, move away and become a cop. That had always been her plan and she didn't feel like changing it.

"Well I don't think I have a choice so.."

Regina raised her eyebrows. "Well you had, but you refused to take it so now this will have to do."

Emma tilted her head. "But wait a second, if you say I need tutoring so badly, why did you even give me an option. Did you know I was going to refuse?"

Instead of answering, Regina just pushed some papers into her hands and ignored her question completely. " Why don't you read through some of these and then when you're done we can start on some of the assignments of this week."

Emma pouted. "I thought we were only going to schedule, not do actual work."

Regina didn't even look up. " I thought so too, Miss Swan. But if you keep complaining than maybe I'll even give you extra work to take home. How does that sound."

The blonde girl rolled her eyes. " Geez I'm sorry."

For a second she thought she saw a smile appear on the teacher's face, but it was gone so fast she couldn't have been sure. What was up with this woman anyways, and why did she want to help her so badly. She tried to push the questions back into her mind and focus on the papers lying in front of her. God she had been staring at these papers for minutes now and still hadn't finished reading the first sentence. Miss Mills must think she's a complete moron.

"Miss Swan."

Emma was startled out of her thoughts and quickly looked up at her teacher.

"I can practically hear you thinking. Is this too hard for you?"

The younger woman shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just not focused I guess, it's been a long day."

This time her teacher really smiled at her, and for once it seemed like she actually meant it. " I know, I've had those days, maybe we can go through these together? If you'd like?"

Emma flashed her a big smile. "Yes, that would be great."

For once she didn't mind doing something for school, because it meant spending time with Regina. She didn't know why, but somehow she was drawn to her, wanting to know more about her which each cold stare that was send her way. She couldn't possibly be like this all the time, right? Did she not have a side of her that just wants to dance in her underwear and watch Netflix all day?

The teacher cleared her throat. " Is there something you want to ask me? You've been staring at me for the last minute or so."

Besides the fact that I want to know if you like dancing in your underwear, a voice in her head said. " Uh no. Sorry. Just lost in thought I guess."

"Miss Swan you do realize that I'm making an exception for you right, I don't do this for every student so I suggest that you try to stay focused on what you're supposed to do for longer than one minute."

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you make an exception for me?"

She knew right away she'd asked the right question. Regina's cheeks reddened and her eyes broke contact with Emma's.

"I think that's enough for today, why won't you head home and try to finish this on your own."

The blonde girl frowned. "But we haven't even-"

"Enjoy your evening Miss Swan."

It was clear that she wasn't going to get any tutoring anymore so she quickly packed her things and stood. " So I guess I'll see you Thursday?"

"Yes."

As Emma closed the door of the classroom behind her she wondered what was going on. What was so special about her? And why did Regina seem so closed off, was this some kind of cry for help because then she really shouldn't have come to the most fucked up person at school. Whatever it was, she was going to find out what was keeping her so … cold. But not right now, right now she was going home and eat. Thank god.

* * *

"Hey!" Ruby yelled as Emma closed the door behind her. "How was it?"

The blond dropped herself in one of their (extremely uncomfortable) kitchen chairs and sighed deeply. " I don't know, kind of weird."

"How so?"

"Don't know I think there is something going on with her and she just needs someone to talk to."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "You think that?"

A plate of perfectly cooked lasagna was placed in front of her and she smiled at her friend, silently thanking her. "Could be, but then I don't know why me."

Ruby couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah it is kind of a weird choice. When are you seeing her again?"

"rsday." She said through a mouthful of lasagna.

The brunette laughed. "I'm sorry what?"

Emma quickly finished her bite of – super delicious she must say – lasagna. "Thursday."

Finally Ruby sat down in front of her with her own plate of lasagna and started eating like she hadn't had any food in years, Emma was used to this, her friend always eats like an insane starving person. However she can't help but observe and quietly laugh at her friend's strange behavior.

"So what are you gonna do?"

The blonde shrugged. "Don't know whatever she tells me to I guess."

"Yeah but I mean are you going to ask her why she is so keen on teaching you history and seeing you twice a week just to teach you some stuff you would already know if you actually bothered to study for once."

She shrugged. "I can't actually ask her that, it would be rude."

"Guess so, maybe when you know her a little better."

"We'll see. For now I just wanna finish this heavenly food and binge watch Parks and recreation till it's morning again."

"Sounds like a plan." Her friend answered.


End file.
